FOX 17 announced today that it will add a new early evening news broadcast, FOX 17 NEWS AT SIX.  It will debut Monday, September 21, 2009 and will air weeknights from 6p -7p. 

“Over the years, many of our news viewers have asked us to add a 6pm newscast”, said FOX 17 News Director, Tim Dye.  “The time now seems right to bring our fresh, new approach to early evening local news coverage.”

FOX 17 NEWS AT SIX will be co-anchored by the familiar faces of Christian Frank and Michele DeSelms, along with Meteorologist Peter Chan and Sports Director Tim Doty. 

Ten years ago Michele and Peter helped launch FOX 17 NEWS AT TEN; while Christian joined to co-anchor a year later in 2000 and Tim in 2001.

FOX 17 Morning News launched in August of 2006 and expanded two years after. Each weekday morning from 5am – 9am Sarah Brodhead co-anchors with Tracy Forner, Jon Shaner forecasts the weather, and Robb Westaby reports the traffic. 

“We are deeply committed to providing the best local news coverage in West Michigan”, said FOX 17 General Manager, Patty Kolb. “Just in the past few years we’ve launched and subsequently expanded FOX 17 Morning News and became the first and only station in the market to offer viewers local newscasts produced entirely in High Definition.  Launching a six o’clock newscast seemed to be the next logical step in increasing the station’s news footprint in West Michigan.”

All three FOX 17 newscasts, Morning News, NEWS AT TEN, and NEWS AT SIX, air in High Definition, featuring reports on issues and topics that are important to West Michigan.    

FOX 17 News Milestones:

• Launched West Michigan’s first 10PM local newscast: January, 1999
• Expanded FOX 17 NEWS AT TEN to a full hour: March, 2004
• Launched FOX 17 Morning News: August, 2006
• Expanded Morning News to 4 hours: August, 2008
• Launched West Michigan’s first HD news operation: April, 2009
• Launching FOX 17 NEWS AT SIX: September, 2009